


Amell's Inquisition

by Lysa_Lavellan (totalnovaktrash)



Series: Dragon Age Game Rewrites [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Human Inquisitor is not a Trevelyan, Inquisition rewrite, Maia Amell is not fooled by Solas's bullshit, Multi, Multiple Amell Children, She's an Amell
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 09:09:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9649187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totalnovaktrash/pseuds/Lysa_Lavellan
Summary: Maia Amell studied the prisoner on the floor of the dungeon. Despite the uneasy feeling that she got from the woman, the Warden Commander couldn't take her eyes off of her. She looked far too familiar for Maia’s liking.The prisoner groaned as they woke up. She looked around the room, taking in the dingy-ness and, more likely, the four guards with their swords drawn. Her eyes eventually landed on Maia and she had to stop herself from inhaling sharply. The prisoner’s eyes were a vibrant shade of blue. A shade Maia had only ever seen when looking in the mirror.Elissa Amell never wanted to be special, that was Maia's job.The glowing green mark on her hand is definitely going to screw that up.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Sequel to the WIP, to-be-posted We Are All Heroes, But What Kind? and Last Ones Left  
> Rated for canon-typical violence.  
> Thanks to dragonagetranscripts on tumblr for the transcript

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's What You Get For Waking Up in Thedas is not dead, guys. I'm just working on multiple fics at a time. 
> 
> Anyway, let me know who you want Elissa to romance, if anyone.

Maia Amell studied the prisoner on the floor of the dungeon. Despite the uneasy feeling that she got from the woman, the Warden Commander couldn't take her eyes off of her. She looked far too familiar for Maia’s liking.

The prisoner groaned as they woke up. She looked around the room, taking in the dingy-ness and, more likely, the four guards with their swords drawn. Her eyes eventually landed on Maia and she had to stop herself from inhaling sharply. The prisoner’s eyes were a vibrant shade of blue. A shade Maia had only ever seen when looking in the mirror.

The door flew open and Maia and Leliana entered. Leliana came to stand by Maia, but Cassandra stormed right up to the prisoner. “Tell me why we shouldn’t kill you now,” she growled. “The Conclave is destroyed. Everyone who attended is dead. Except for you.”

“You think I'm responsible?” the prisoner asked quietly.

“Explain this!” Cassandra grabbed the prisoner’s manacles and held them up as the mark on the woman’s hand flared to life.

“I… can’t,” she admitted.

“What do you mean, you can’t?” Cassandra snarled.

"I don’t know what that is or how it got there.”

“You’re lying!”

Cassandra moved to strike the prisoner but Maia stopped her. “We need her, Cassandra.”

“Whatever you think I did, I'm innocent!” the prisoner insisted.

“Do you remember what happened? How this began?” Leliana asked.

The prisoner thought for a moment. “I remember running. Things were chasing me. And then… a woman?”

“A woman?” Maia repeated.

She nodded. “She reached out to me, but then… I can't remember anymore.”

Maia considered this. “You and Leliana go to the forward camp, Cassandra. I will take her to the rift.”

Cassandra prepared to argue, but huffed instead and left. Leliana nodded at Maia before following. The Warden Commander turned back to the prisoner.

Her dark hair reached only to her bottom tips of her earlobes and she looked to be in her mid to late twenties. Maia could feel the magic almost radiating from the woman. “You're a mage,” Maia said.

“So are you,” the prisoner replied. “Why should I trust you? Your friend wants me dead.”

“You can trust me because I think you're innocent.” Maia knelt so that she was at the prisoner’s eye level. “What Circle are you from?”

She hesitated. “The one in Ostwick.”

“How old were you when you got there?”

“Six.”

“Do you remember where you were from originally?”

The prisoner shrugged. “No. Just that it was somewhere else in the Free Marches.”

Maia studied her. “What's your name?”

“Elissa Amell.”

~~~~~~

_“Maia!”_

_“Mai!”_

_“Please, let me say goodbye!”_

_“Come along, girl.”_

~~~~~~

Maia stood. “Figures. The Amells are known for getting in trouble.”

Elissa cocked her head to the side. “You know an Amell?”

The elder woman helped the younger one to her feet. “You could say that. Follow me.” She led Elissa outside.

Elissa gasped when she saw the sky. “What…?”

Maia looked up, bitterly. “We call it the Breach. It’s a massive rift into the Fade. A doorway for demons into the waking world. It’s not the only rift, just the largest, and all of them were caused by the explosion at the conclave.”

“An explosion can do that?” Elissa marveled.

“This one did. Unless we do something, the Breach will grow until it swallows all of Thedas.” The world shook as the Breach widened. Elissa fell to the ground in pain, mark flaring. “Each time the Breach grows, your mark spreads.  If we don't stop it, it will kill you.”

“So I'm dead,” Elissa said, flatly.

“Not if we close it.” Maia helped her up and replaced the manacles with rope. The two continued through Haven, villagers sneering and shouting as they passed. “They're mourning Divine Justinia. The Conclave was hers; a chance for peace between mages and Templars. They need your guilt because they need someone to blame for her death.”

Soldiers opened the gate for them. “Where are you taking me?” Elissa asked.

“Your mark needs to be tested on something smaller than the Breach first.” Maia cut the ropes binding her hands.

“You said they've decided I'm guilty, but you think I'm innocent,” the younger Amell noted. “Why? Because I'm an Amell?”

“No, because you're human. The culprit may have had human allies, but they are not.”

“How do you know I'm not one of their allies?”

Piercing blue eyes met blue. “I have faith,” Maia said, simply. “I prayed to the Maker; he sent us you.”

* * *

As they reached the top of the hill, the mark flared and Elissa fell to the ground in pain. Maia helped her up again. “The pulses are coming faster now. The larger the Breach grows, the more rifts appear, and the more demons we will face.”

“How did I survive the blast?” Elissa wondered.

Maia studied her. “They said you stepped out of a rift, then fell unconscious. They also say a woman was in the rift behind you, but no one knows who she was.” She turned to look at the damage done by rifts and demons. “Everything farther in the valley was laid waste, including the Temple of Sacred Ashes.”

Continuing on, the two passed corpses and fires burning the dead. Just as they were crossing the bridge, a meteor of light from the Breach slammed into the ground and the bridge collapsed. The two Amells tumbled down to the frozen river below.  

The Breach released another meteor. It hit the frozen river a short distance in front of Maia and a Shade formed in a pool of green light. It immediately attacked the Warden Commander, who threw herself out of the way. A second shade started to form nearby. Maia dug through the pile of junk she had landed in, triumphantly pulling out a discarded staff. She threw the weapon to Elissa and grabbed her own.

Together, they defeated the two Shades. Maia gripped her staff tighter and surveyed the area. Once she was content that no more demons would appear, her relaxed her put away her weapon. “It's over. Let's keep moving.”

But Elissa didn't move. “You gave me a weapon.”

Maia looked back at her. “And? Are you going to attack me with it? Try to run away?”

“No.”

“Then what's the problem? I can't protect you at all times, and I certainly can't expect you to be defenseless. Your life is threatened enough as it is.” Maia reached into the pouch at her hip and handed Elissa a few bottles of red liquid. “Take these healing potions. Maker knows what we will face.”

Elissa noted something missing as they continued on. “Where are all your soldiers?”

“At the forward camp or fighting. For now, it's just us,” Maia replied.

At the crest of a hill, they spotted more Shades forming on the frozen water below. “There! Watch out!” Maia approached the demons. “If we flank them, we may gain an advantage.”

Maia and Elissa quickly defeated the demons, but more Shades and a few Wraiths appeared as they reached a set of stone stairs After defeating the demons, the two proceeded up the stairs and along the left bank of the river. Down the hill and back onto the frozen riverbed, two more sets of demon attacks. The Shades and Wraiths are quickly felt with and the duo climbed another steep staircase that had been carved into the side of the hill.

“We’re getting close to the rift,” Maia said. “You can hear the fighting.”

Elissa frowned. “Who’s fighting?”

“You’ll see.” She lept over a broken fence and ran into battle.

Elissa followed. She saw three soldiers, and elven mage, and a dwarf with a crossbow fighting a handful of demons. There was a huge glowing green tear crackling in the air. She joined the fight, back to back with Maia.

The elf grabbed Elissa’s wrist and thrust her hand with the Mark at the tear. It writhed, almost like it was alive and in pain, and exploded. She looked down at her hand, confused. “What did you do?”

“ _I_ did nothing,” the elf said. “The credit is yours.”

"I closed that thing? How?”

“That was a rift. Hundreds of them opened in the Breach’s wake. Solas theorized that, since your Mark was created by the same magic as the Breach, it could close the rifts. Clearly, he was right,” explained Maia.

“It could also possibly close the Breach itself,” the elf, Solas, added. “It seems you hold the key to our salvation,” he told Elissa.

“Good to know! Here I thought we'd be ass deep in demons forever,” said the dwarf. “Varric Tethras: rogue, storyteller, and, occasionally, unwelcome tagalong.” He winked at Maia, who rolled her eyes.

Elissa smiled at him. “That's... a nice crossbow you have.”

Varric looked fondly at his weapon. “Ah, isn't she? Bianca and I have been through a lot together.”

She furrowed her eyebrows. “You named your crossbow Bianca?”

“Don't bother asking,” Maia advised. “Just go with it.”

“Are you with the Chantry or…?”

Solas snorted. “Was that a serious question?”

“Technically I'm a prisoner, just like you,” Varric answered.

“ _Technically_ you're free to go, Tethras,” said Maia. “Cassandra brought you here to tell your story to the Divine. Unfortunately, that's no longer necessary.”

“Yet here I am. Lucky for you, considering current events.”

“So what now?” Elissa asked.

“Now we meet up with Cassandra and Leliana,” Maia decided.

“Great idea!” Varric declared. “Let's go!”

Maia sighed. “Varric, your help is appreciated, but--”

“Have you been in the valley lately, Cinder?” he interrupted. “The Seeker’s soldiers aren't in control anymore. You need me.”

She scowled. “Fine.”

Solas offered his hand to Elissa. “My name is Solas, if there are to be introductions. I'm pleased to see you still live.”

“He means, ‘I kept that mark from killing you while you slept.’”

“Then I owe you my thanks,” said Elissa.

“Thank me if we manage to close the Breach without killing you in the process.”

Elissa paled and Maia put her hand on her shoulder. “We won't let that happen,” the latter assured the former.

“Warden Commander, you should know,” Solas continued, “the magic here is unlike anything I have ever seen. The prisoner is a mage, but I find it difficult to imagine any mage having such power.”

Maia nodded. “I'll pass that along. Thank you, Solas.”

Elissa looked at her. “Warden Commander? You're the Hero of Ferelden?”

Maia made a face. “I hate that title, but yes.”

“Then you're from the Ferelden Circle. You may have known a family member of mine, she was sent there. Maia Amell?”

Solas and Varric looked at the Warden Commander, expectantly. “Well, Cinder?”

She coughed. “We should get to the forward camp.” Maia marched off.

“Well,” Varric said with a smirk, “Bianca’s excited.”


End file.
